Serra da Estrela is a semi-soft cheese made from the milk of Bordaleira Serra da Estrela and Churra Mondegueira breeds of sheep. Milking is done by hand, after which the milk is heated, salted, and curdled using thistle extract.
The curd is formed into cheeses, which are left to ripen in humid and cold conditions. The cheese has a creamy, semi-soft interior that is yellowish-white in color, while its flavor is clean, sweet, and slightly sour. This cheese is Portugal's oldest, most traditional food product with international acclaim.
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Azeitão is a semi-soft cheese made from unpasteurized sheep milk. The origins of this cheese date back to the 19th century, when Gaspar Henriques de Paiva emigrated to the town of Azeitão. Out of nostalgia for his place of birth, he imported black dairy sheep from his home town to Azeitão and brought cheesemakers from Beira Baixa to make cheeses.
De Paiva's Azeitão cheeses quickly became famous throughout Portugal, winning several awards at agricultural fairs. The milk for this cheese is taken from sheep that graze on natural vegetation in the pastures of Azeitão. The sheep are milked manually, and the milk is mixed with the extract of a local variety of thistle to start the curdling process instead of animal rennet, meaning the cheese is 100% vegetarian.
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Produced in the district of Beja in eastern Portugal, Serpa is a semi-soft sheep's milk cheese that's similar to Pecorino. Instead of animal rennet, Serpa is curdled using an extract made from a species of thistle that grows in the countryside of Alentejo.
The leaves of the plant are dried and soaked in water, and this liquid is added to the heated milk to begin the curdling process. The curd is placed into molds, and the molded cheeses are then gently wrapped in muslin cloth for further ripening. The rind of Serpa is thin and malleable, while the cheese's interior is semi-soft and yellowish-white in color.
The Portuguese region of Beira Baixa produces some of the country's best known traditional cheeses. The region has a long history of agriculture, and its granitic soils and healthy pastures make it the perfect place to create rich, tasty cheese.
Beira Baixa cheese is a semi-hard cheese made from sheep’s milk, and it comes in three cheese types: Castelo Branco cheese, Beira Baixa spicy cheese, and Beira Baixa yellow cheese. Two methods are used to produce this cheese – ovelheira, using vegetable rennet (Castelo Branco cheese), and cabreira, using animal rennet (Beira Baixa cheeses).
The Castelo Branco variety is semi-hard and yellowish with an accentuated, slightly spicy flavor.
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